Riot Games has shared some simple exercises for gamers to help stretch the fingers, hands, and wrists.
A lot of tension can be built in the fingers and wrists after hours of gaming. This can affect reaction time, pressure points, and at times, may even cause injury.
Shared on their official League of Legends: Wild Rift account, these exercises for gamers are adapted from qigong and yoga. They help relax muscles that might have tensed up during one’s usual gaming grind, or even after a full day at the office.
Wrist exercises for gamers
To stretch the wrist, place all fingertips of both palms together. Slowly push the palms together, as if in prayer position.
Without breaking prayer hands, lower your palms down while keeping your elbows in place, until you feel a good stretch on your wrists and anterior forearm.
Hold this position for 15 seconds, then slowly release.
You can also do the reverse stretch by holding your arm out and then pointing your palm down. Use your opposite hand to gently stretch your wrist and your posterior forearm.
Finger stretches for mobile gamers
We don’t need to tell you how important the fingers are to gaming. For mobile gamers, the thumb controls much of the pressure of the entire hand.
Touch the tips of your index, middle, ring, and pinky fingers to the tips of your thumb, and hold each pose for 20 seconds.
Keep the other fingers not touching your thumb as straight as possible to keep the stretch. This might be more difficult than you think!
Stretches that target all hand muscle groups
These hand stretching exercises for gamers consists of three movements.
- Straighten your fingers as much as possible, and close them together
- Spread all your fingers as wide as you can
- Curl your fingers in to make a fist
Hold each position for 20 seconds and repeat ten times. This helps stretch all the in-between muscles in your hands.
Tendon gliding exercises for gamers
Tendon gliding and joint articulation are very helpful exercises for gamers, because they help improve the flow of the tendon and prevent injury in the joints.
In some cases, it may even help manage carpal tunnel. These exercises consist of moving your fingers through four different positions.
- Arrow: Hold your fingers straight up
- Tabletop: Move your fingers to a horizontal position, while holding the palm vertically
- Claw: From tabletop, curl the fingers inward to bend at the first phalangeal joint
- Fist: Curl your fingers inward some more to form a fist
Stay in each position for about 20 seconds, slowly transitioning to the next. Repeat ten times.
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